Tire-bead.



ilA c n. di. LA

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led March 5, 1915.

To all whom t may concern.

Be it known that L VWiLLiAM C. STEVENS, o, citizen of the United States, residing et Akron, in the county ot' Summit and State of hio, have ini'ei'ited certain new and useiiul improvements in TireBeads, of which the tolleming,` is spcciicotiona Prior to my ini tionA it wus the practice in the nmrfiiiiecture ot bende for piiemnatic tires to forni it continuous strip ci stoclf;v of the cross section of the bend, trom which. the workmen cnt lengths to forni overlapping ends on the bend. The ends of the length out oii were then cnt in inortise joints and secured together. After being secured together, a piece et rictioned fabric was wrapped around the bead joint and the bend was finished being passed on to the 'tire maker who applied the seine to the tire. ln the niortise joint formed by the Workmen7 no provision was inode to prevent the sepnration oi? the ends ot the bend in handling,- and thejr frequently did so separate and being covered over by the frictioned fabric mentioned, .eid Separation was hard to detect and resulted. in the loss of n greet many oi the beads.

l here Sought to reinedjT the defect mentioned by making the bend ends..` which so joined in such fesl'iion that they cannot separate after having been Wrapped. The process ot cutting and making the bends forme the subject matter of my copending application Serial No. 777,999, tiled July 9, 1913.

The bend is illustrated in the eccoinjiieny` ing drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts and in which;

Figure l, is an elevation of the tire bead witl'i the binding strip removed.

Fig. 2, is en enlarged View looking down npon the joint Showing; the strip of binding fabric in place before it is Wrapped.

Fig. 3, is e. perspective View ot the joint with the ends separated.

Fig. Li, is e. modification.

in the manufacture of my tire bend o. continuous strip of material in the. proper cross eection is formed, which is cut into exact iPettented tiene gft? l'iil'..

Serial i''o. 12,310.

length required for use by a. tool, forming :in irregular or jagged out. The form of cnt preferred by me ie shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and is made by tufo oblique cuts (a) (n) which are parallel but not on the seme piene. These ents ere placed beyond the longitudinal center of the bend end ere joined by e third cut (o). 'ilie heed ie then Wrapped with e piece oi' frictioned fabric (2) which covers the entire bead except for the ends which nre left Uncovered.

The ents at both ends of the bend are simiA ler and when brought together torni e inziting interlocking joint. Before being; brought together one side of the joint is covered with si strip of pure gum, the two ends having been placed together by the operator7 and e strip of frictioned fabric in the torni of :i bindingl piece, (3) shown in Fig. 2, is placed around thev joint to prevent latere-l Separation of the bead ends and after being lwrapped is rolled down by the operator..

The joint is now complete and it will be seen that there can be no longitudinal sepa ration ot the ends o'f the bend.

modification of my bead is shown in il'ig. 4f, in which the out (d) is made in e sinuses curve.

It is obvious that Various other tornio of interlocking joints might be inode in the ends of the bead than those shown but l conn Sider that any joint which forme an interlocking enge-gement in the ends of the tire bead comes Within the scope of my invention, and il do not Wish to be limited to the forms shown in the drawingn What l claim. is:

l. A tire bend for nee in the edges or" pneumatic tire czisings comprising e strip of bend material having overlapping ends, one end of said bead being provided -'with a single projection and recess adopted to mete with si single projection sind receso on the other end ot said bead, the mating projections and recesses being adapted to bring Aseid bend to e. predetermined circnmfen ence, and ineens to prevent lateral seperw tion of the bend ende.

2. .it tire bead for ose in tile pneumatic tire casings comprising a strip of about said ends to prevent lateral separabead material having (gferlappllng ends, ezch tion thereof.

end being cut on two iavonaJ planes an a cut transverse to said plnes, the two ends WILLIAM C' STEVENS 5 being adapted to mate, whereby the bead, Witneses:

upon being circled, will be brought to a pre- R. E. GLASS, determined circumference, and :L wrapping J. J. SHEA. 

